bangshow homie scottie gallo speakin the troof and nothing but it

As Groucho Marx once said, “Utah is God’s country, and he can have it.”

Each season young shredder-types move from all over this fine nation to Utah, the 45th state admitted to the Union, with a simple rally cry: “we’re goin’ boardin.’” The Salt Lake City region is completely saturated by the snowboard industry. (I’m pretty sure the rest of the state is a barren desert awesome for shooting guns and ruining rental cars). Salt Lake is home to both multi-million dollar production companies and for-the-homies video dudes. I saw my first snowboard billboard ad in Salt Lake and, coming from the East Coast, I was pretty impressed.

Now, I could talk about how good all the Salt Lake homies were to Zach and I, how good the snow is, how fun their house parties are, etc. I could talk about how every rail from 3 to 30 stairs is knobbed, and how shitty it is to see “no snowboarding” signs at good spots, and how tweaked white people are on the whole, but I think that’s all been covered.

The video posted here is a testament to those who move to Utah with absolutely no intention of ever filming for a full length DVD or web video or seeing a dime from riding a snowboard. It’s meant to dispel the myth that by moving to Utah, you will certainly become a professional and buy a mansion next to MFM with your sponsor photo contingency money. For many of us, it’s just not happening, and I’m pretty down with that. Riding the rail gardens everyday, using student loan money to buy a season’s pass to Brighton and drinking without filming it. Emulating the “pro experience” without having any of the responsibility of being pro is pretty awesome. Just out there living the dream. I mean, fuck, that’s why they call it “living the dream” ain’t it?

With that in mind, Zach and I, got a vx1000 (not 2000, and certainly not 2100) and some pedestrian “HD” cam and started filming our “dream life.” Turns out, when put on tape, living the dream looks relatively lo-fi, and that’s the charm of it all. We had a fucking blast. 95% of snowboarding now, due to online flash videos, (remember when that shit was all quicktime?), illegal copies of Final Cut, and the HVX, is judged based on footage quality, spot originality, etc. I see nothing wrong with that, but I don’t think it should depreciate anyone trying to document their slice of the dream. The self-depreciative captions in this video are there to remind all-ya’ll that we know we could have tried harder, maybe found some new spots, attempted harder tricks, shotgunned more beer, maybe argued more with the cops to let us stay at some of the rails, or had the camera out on Brighton’s last day when everyone got that chick to show her tits, but we didn’t. Because trying hard can sort of suck and make snowboarding less fun. Here’s to the underachievers. Don’t worry about forgetting the camera on pow days, or missing that “epic session” because you have work. You’ll make some friends for life and have a great time riding, and when you make a little web video, I’ll watch it and wont even leave a comment.

– Scottie Gallo

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